1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for locked code on a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.
2. Background Art
Radio frequency identification (RFID) and data storage protocols are designed into a number of other products including data storage tape drives and media cartridges. For data storage applications, an RFID “tag” which is typically implemented as a transponder and non-volatile memory is included in each media cartridge. The RFID tag provides for assignment of unique identification information to individual cartridges and the information is typically stored in the respective media. The RFID tags are wirelessly (e.g., electromagnetically, electrostatically, etc.) read from and written to by a read/write device. The read/write device can be implemented in connection with at least one of a tape (or media) transport (or drive) and a media library robotic retrieval arm assembly.
Conventional RFID approaches typically implement coding (i.e., data, information, etc.) as information content in a comprehensive tag memory. The comprehensive tag memory typically includes accessible portions such as a general read page, a selective read page, a selective read page and a program page, as well as software locked pages. A number of conventional software locking approaches have been used to attempt to protect secure information on the conventional RFID tag. However, such conventional software based approaches have a deficiency in that countermeasures to the software lock (e.g., hacking, and other unauthorized intrusion) are challenging the security of information stored in the conventional RFID tag.
Thus there exists an opportunity and need for an improved system and method for improving the security of RFID tags, thereby obviating or reducing deficiencies of conventional approaches.